This invention relates generally to images, and more particularly to the aesthetic judgment of images.
Graphics applications have become increasingly popular for computers, even for non-professional users. Graphics applications allow users to design their own images, for distribution, for example, to friends, family and co-workers. In addition, the increasing popularity of the Internet has meant that end users have even more distribution options for their work, such as posting images on web sites. The web site design process itself can be referred to as an image design process. As used herein, the term image is general, and encompasses any graphics-related work, such as web pages, created pictures, scanned-in pictures or pictures taken by digital camera, drawings, technical drawings, page layout for desktop publishing and work processing, etc. In short, the term image is inclusive of any element that includes something besides just straight text, and thus includes organization of text, which can be deemed a graphical organization of the text, etc.
A shortcoming of current graphics applications for computers, however, is that they cannot judge the end result of a user""s creation. Many graphics applications, such as Visio, Microsoft(copyright) Picture-It(copyright), and Microsoft(copyright) FrontPage(copyright), provide wizards and templates to make the creation of images easier, and make the end result more professional looking. However, because the user is still given considerable discretion in the designing of the images, even when using wizards and templates, the user may unknowingly create something that looks unprofessional, or even garish-looking. Besides asking family, friends and co-workers for their opinionsxe2x80x94who themselves are likely to be non-professionalsxe2x80x94the user has few options for determining how aesthetic his or her image is.
For this and other reasons, then, there is a need for the present invention.
The invention relates to computerized aesthetic judgment of images. In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method inputs a training set of images, where each image has a corresponding set of one or more aesthetic scores. The method trains a classifier based on the training set, and outputs the classifier. An image can then be input into the classifier, such that an aesthetic score for the image is generated by the classifier and output. Furthermore, recommendations can be generated to improve the aesthetic score for the image, which are also output.
Thus, a number of sample images are surveyed by professional designers and graphic artists, among other professionals, where each image receives an aesthetic score from each professional, to make up the training set. This training set is then input into a classifier, such as a Bayesian classifier or a Support Vector Machine (SVM), which correlates the scores for the images based on features of the images, such as the presence and distribution of colors, etc. The resulting trained classifier can then be used by end users, to provide aesthetic scores for their own images. Recommendations to improve the aesthetic scores of the images, and thus the aesthetics of the images, can also be generated, based on the same features selected by the classifier, utilizing a gradient ascent or localized search approach, for example.
In this manner, embodiments of the invention provide for advantages not found within the prior art. Integrating an embodiment of the invention into graphics programs, or integrating an embodiment into a stand-alone program, allows end users to have access to professional judgment as to how xe2x80x9cgoodxe2x80x9d their created images xe2x80x9clook.xe2x80x9d The end users can make changes as necessary based on the resulting aesthetic scores of their images, to improve the images"" scores, or rely on the recommendations made by an embodiment of the invention to improve the images"" scores.
Embodiments of the invention include computer-implemented methods, computer-readable media, computers and computerized systems of varying scope. Still other embodiments, advantages and aspects of the invention will become apparent by reading the following detailed description, and by reference to the drawings.